BHL Playoffs
(Winter Season 2002) Quarter-finals:
4th vs 5th place CYCLONES 7 LIONS
2
SOG: 31 SOG: 19
Game highlights: Team Captain John Hannon leads his team to victory with hat trick. Lions have trouble keeping this game close. Cyclones move on to play archrivals and public enemy #1, Power Play.
2nd vs 7th place
BRUINS 10 RAYMOND J. BUCKS 2
SOG: 43 SOG: 10
Game highlights: The Zach "attack" is back and this time the Raymond James Bucks pay the price. Bruins fowards Dave Mitchell and Zach Lambert combine for 7 goals. Stingy defense keeps Raymond James from getting any chance at closing the gap. Bruins advance.
3rd vs 6th place
VIPERS 6 PREDATORS 4
SOG: 55 SOG: 14
Game highlights: Predators display a heroic effort and almost upset heavily favored Vipers. Predator's goalie Greg Parlante stuns Vipers offense with a brilliant performance. Viper's forward Jason Glaesmer ties game with 4 minutes remaining in the third. Vipers take the lead with the clock winding down to 13.4 seconds on a great goal by Viper forward Sean Smith.
1st vs 8th place
POWER PLAY 15
TEAM USA 3 SOG: 38 SOG: 15
Game highlights: Mutipoint game for the powerful Power Play team. Power Play winger Nicky sets BHL record to become first female player to have a five point night. Team USA plays entire game with only four players and thus struggles to keep score close.
Semi-finals:
Game # 1
POWER PLAY 11 CYCLONES 3
SOG: 38 SOG: 19
Game highlights: Power Play scores two quick goals in the first 2 minutes of the game. Cyclones never really recover from this early let down. Forward Dave Poole scores five goals for the Power house.
Game # 1
VIPERS 6
BRUINS 3 SOG: 28 SOG: 19
Game highlights: Vipers lead 4-0 at the end of the first period. Bruins score two quick goals in the beginning of the second period and suddenly a possible rally begins to take shape. Viper forward Peter Bikakis takes the wind out of their sails as he scores a shorthanded goal late in the second and then adds another regular strength goal midway through the third.
Game # 2
POWER PLAY 5 CYCLONES 4 O.T.
SOG: 34 SOG: 22
Game highlights: Power Play takes 4-1 lead early in the second period. Cyclones rally back to tie game late in the third period and send this game into overtime. Power Play's players look exhausted, but both teams have some good scoring chances in O.T.. Defenseman Monty Farrel (ex-Cyclone) ends the game with a hard low shot from the point. Power Play survives tough game. Advances to Finals.
Game # 2
VIPERS 6
BRUINS 1 SOG: 19 SOG: 15
Game highlights: Scoreless first period. Vipers take lead in second and never look back. Devils are unable to turn things around. Vipers move on to face defending Champs Power Play.
Finals:
POWER PLAY 4
VIPERS 3 O.T. SOG: 37 SOG: 22
Game highlights: Vipers score first and take a 3-1 lead into the third period. Vipers get a controversial delay of game penalty with 5 minutes left in the third period. Power Play capitalizes and ties game with 4:25 left on the clock. Game goes into overtime. Power Play goalie Skip Eckert stuns Vipers early in O.T. with a shocker of a glove save. Shortly after killing off a penalty, Power Play foward Matt Garry fires a rocket of a shot on net. As the shot bounces off the goalie's pad and heads towards the corner of the rink, defenseman T.J. Lombardo races down the left side of the rink and makes a desperate but spectacular attempt to poke the ball towards the net from a difficult angle. Unbelievably the ball somehow crawls into the net as Vipers watch in dismay. Power Play rejoices and exuberantly celebrates their 4th consecutive Championship Title.
Playoff MVP: Skip Eckert (
Power Play)
